Saturday, July 29, 2006

Cold Facts on Melting

Recently the work of Peter Doran, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been cited to support the idiotic idea that the earth is in fact cooling not heating up. Mr. Doran published an interesting op-ed piece in the New York Times last Sunday.

Here are a few excerpts:

"In the debate on global warming, the data on the climate of Antarctica has been distorted, at different times, by both sides. As a polar researcher caught in the middle, I’d like to set the record straight.

"In January 2002, a research paper about Antarctic temperatures, of which I was the lead author, appeared in the journal Nature. At the time, the Antarctic Peninsula was warming, and many people assumed that meant the climate on the entire continent was heating up, as the Arctic was. But the Antarctic Peninsula represents only about 15 percent of the continent’s land mass, so it could not tell the whole story of Antarctic climate. Our paper made the continental picture more clear."

and:

"Our results have been misused as “evidence” against global warming by Michael Crichton in his novel “State of Fear” and by Ann Coulter in her latest book, “Godless: The Church of Liberalism.” Search my name on the Web, and you will find pages of links to everything from climate discussion groups to Senate policy committee documents — all citing my 2002 study as reason to doubt that the earth is warming. One recent Web column even put words in my mouth. I have never said that “the unexpected colder climate in Antarctica may possibly be signaling a lessening of the current global warming cycle.” I have never thought such a thing either."

and:

"… I would like to remove my name from the list of scientists who dispute global warming. I know my coauthors would as well."